Someone Slightly Different

Author: Judy Frank Mearian

First line: I have two vivid memories of my father.

Why you should read this book: With her father long gone and her mother struggling to make ends meet, twelve-year-old Marty is a latchkey kid: home alone all afternoon, doing chores for her mom, and stinging under the cruel aspersions of her richer and more secure peers. Then along comes Flossie, her father's mother, the grandmother she's never met, who can bake bread, sew new clothes, and teach a cat to do tricks like a dog. Marty's dull gray world explodes with hope as she learns from Flossie lessons about integrity, happiness, and life.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You go around asking kids to sign pledges that they will refrain from vice for their entire lives.